Nokia feature phones stage comeback with Microsoft's new $20 Nokia 105 cellphone

Fresh after releasing nearly half a dozen exclusively branded affordable smartphones, Microsoft now seems to be looking at winning back the segment that erstwhile Nokia not too long ago was famous for, the feature-phone segment.

The Redmond-based technology giant has now come out with the new Nokia 105 which is priced at an ultra affordable $20 (£13).

Nokia 105 2015 — there is an earlier variant launched at MWC 2013 called Nokia 105 albeit with a comparatively lower internal storage area — cellphone comes with the Nokia brand and is designed for predominantly two categories of users.

One group comprises Nokia loyalists who grew up using Nokia's affordable range of basic/feature phones, and this group was clearly disappointed when Microsoft inflicted hardcore reforms on Nokia's strategies post the takeover of the latter's Devices and Services Businesses in 2013.

Another group is the young adults, who form a dominant class in emerging markets more than in sophisticated economies across the world.

Microsoft's new Nokia 105 (based on Nokia's Series 30+ feature-phone platform) could do well to attract both the above categories of cellphone users, along with the corporate folks who look at owning a secondary feature-phone to separate personal calls from business ones.

Apart from the USP of the newest Nokia 105, the cellphone's battery is claimed to offer up to 35 days worth of standby time and a whopping 15 hours of talktime on a single complete charge.

Microsoft's Nokia 105 comes in both single-SIM as well as dual-SIM variants. The dual-SIM edition is priced slightly higher at $26. Microsoft also states that both the $20 as well as the $26 Nokia 105 handsets will retail globally in select markets beginning from the second week of June.

Thanks to the ultra low price tag of the device, there will be no duty imposed on people in UK who buy the cellphone from other parts of the world.

Yet another notable aspect about the new Nokia 105 is that customers get to enjoy the good old Snake game in an all new avatar, along with the Bubble Bash 2.

Nokia 105 features a flashlight as well as an FM radio.

Key technical specifications of Nokia 105 2015

• 1.45in 16/64-bit HighColour LCD display
• Nokia Series 30+ operating platform
• Dual SIM-card support
• 800 mAh Nokia BL-5CB battery with claimed talktime of up to 15 hours and standby time of up to 25 days, on a single charge
• Internal storage area for storing 2,000 user contacts
• Dimensions: 108.5 x 45.5 x 14.1 mm

In countries where reliability of a cellphone is accorded primary priority, Microsoft's Nokia 105 2015 should do well to compete with the $40 (£26) Karbonn A50S Android smartphone.